Journey To The Edge Of Space
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
I’ve been skydiving twice and I still can’t believe I actually did it. I’m afraid of heights and that video portrays the look from 14,000 feet pretty well! Wooooo
I’ll never jump out of a functional aircraft again. The last time I had the pleasure of watching my friend’s malfunctioning ‘chute fly away like a big useless bed sheet. By this time I was out of the aircraft myself. Fortunately, his spare parachute wasn’t a dud. I recall being a little ill by the time my feet touched the ground…
Anthony–
-I’ll never jump out of a functional aircraft, with a conscious pilot, in the first instance!
(need one of those purple Xanax, just thinking about it, ha.)
But seriously– good for you.!
If we’re absolutely (101%) going down, you’ll probably have to push me out the hatch. (I’ll scream, but I will go…)
Just in case this ever comes up– how does one stop oneself, from tumbling?
As I recall– we have a number of folks here, who enjoy Newtonian physics, up close & personal. I’m more of table-top demonstration guy. (That and film!)
I do occasionally watch that Felix Baumgartner (spell?) video, when he jumps from 140K feet. That’s enough vicarious-thrill for this old dog.
Edward-
good video. Gives a nice sense of height & three-dimensionality.
I can’t resist.
(they all landed safely…)
Folksam Insurance
“Parachuting Cats” [English]
(Those whacky Swedes!)
https://youtu.be/f9OUFS9uTb4
(0:40)
Wayne,
I get that response a lot and for the record, if I ran into my past self I would say the same thing. Its pretty amazing how much I’ve changed as I aged.
Regarding the question of how to stop tumbling, its all about the aerodynamics relative to the center of mass (you move your arms and legs to a certain position). Its the same principle as a badminton shuttlecock or birdie, it always flies with the dense part pointing in the direction of flight. As an interesting side note, on my second jump my instructor said we would do one flip then stabilize and I went along with the plan reluctantly. Execution of said plan was not successful. We did multiple flips and I rapidly became disoriented before he finally got us stabilized. That may have contributed to my nausea and my decision to never go again.